"The course was ridiculously difficult this afternoon," said the golf-wise Ryder Cup star from Northern Ireland.

"It really was disappointing.

"It's a fantastic design and then you have new tees and all of a sudden we are hitting three-irons to flags that are completely inaccessible.

"It takes all the fun away and it takes the ability to shoot a good score away.

"People come in to watch us make birdies and unfortunately that's just not happening.

"The greens are rock hard. They are designed to be hit by much shorter clubs than we were having to hit.

"I'm very pleased with my score. I could have let it get away from me and I didn't."

Paul McGinley commented following his 73: "I think they have overdone the new tee boxes - it's become a monster golf course."